The gorilla-type Deater was tall enough that its head brushed the corridor ceiling. When they got right up in front of its snout, Sawon let go of Ji Hayeon, gripped his sword with both hands, and drove it straight into the left side of its chest.Thud-thud, crack!With the sound of thick hide, muscle, and bone breaking, the gorilla roared. Sawon rammed the sword the rest of the way into the wall behind it and poured Metena into the blade.Boom!With a bomb-like blast, a large hole blew open in the gorilla’s chest. Its heart and flesh were minced to ground meat and scattered in every direction. Fragments spattered across Sawon’s mask and forehead too.Ah, damn. I forgot to put my cap on.Because they’d blacked out the building, there wasn’t a single light on anywhere. In the windowless basement, not even moonlight reached; it was just pitch-black darkness. But the two hunters could sense their surroundings with Metena, and Ji Hayeon could rely on the hologram guide in his comm. From the far left, Sawon felt four massive shadows approaching.No time to hesitate.Sawon grabbed Ji’s hand again and ran. Mok Geonho had already reached the far end.– No Deaters over here!Mok Geonho shouted with his back to the security gate.Screeee-eeech!A snake-type Deater shaped like a giant deep-sea fish crawled toward the three of them. Sawon pulled the two daggers strapped to his thigh belt and hurled them at its eyes like throwing spears. The Metena-infused blades drove in hard and yanked its body backward. The deep-sea fish flopped on its back like a fish out of water.His legs never stopped moving even while he attacked, and before he knew it, he’d reached the end of the corridor. Mok Geonho stepped aside for Ji and moved to Sawon’s side.– Gu Sawon.– What.The two hunters adjusted their grips on their weapons as they talked.– You know why I’m here, right? Don’t wreck the building. I’ll be held jointly responsible.– Huh. And who was it just now melting the ceiling?– That wasn’t wrecking it, that was making a shortcut.Screeee-eeeee!Beep, beep, beep, behind them came the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) sound of Ji Hayeon disabling the security. Even with the monsters closing in, the door showed no sign of opening. Sawon settled into a fighting stance.– Chief, did you forget the password? Why’s it taking you so long to open a door?– Don’t talk to me. I’m concentrating.Mok Geonho cracked his whip at the snake that had slithered much closer. The whip coiled and twisted like a spring; one pull, and the Deater’s body sliced into segments.[Inputting iris data.]The records room’s biometric security required passing five separate checks to open. Fingerprint, vein, iris, voice, and face. The air hummed low, and a flash of light flickered. Once the iris scan ended, Ji shoved one arm into a small opening.Kkieeeek!Sawon, who had just severed the Deater’s neck, turned back. He was fighting while keeping one eye on whatever Ji was doing.This is insanely complicated.Just how incredible is the intel in here.In a narrow corridor with not a single point of light, stuck with the penalty of not being allowed to wreck the building while Deaters kept converging—it was a serious pain to deal with.– Chief, the longer this drags on, the more I want to blow this whole place up.The moment he said it, a sharp tone rang.[Security has been released. Welcome, Chief Ji Hayeon.]– It’s open!Sawon flicked the blood from his sword and backed away. At the far end of the corridor, he could see another group of Deaters gathering at the commotion.– Mok Geonho, move it!Only then did Mok Geonho retract his whip and sprint for the records room entrance. As the two hunters dove through the door after Ji, the sliding door whispered shut. However…Bang!One of the Deaters rammed its forehead into the gap before it could close. It wedged the horn jutting from the center of its brow into the seam to keep the door from shutting.– Hey, hey. Gu Sawon!– What is this place. Chief, why is the records room this cramped? I can’t even swing a sword in here.In front of them, a steel door was locked in a standoff with the Deater. And behind them, maybe three square meters at most, was a glass wall. The three of them kept bumping into each other every time they moved. Ji leaned his back against the glass and closed his eyes.– We have to do this part to get inside properly.– This part?– “This part”?Sawon and Mok Geonho asked at the same time.Swooooosh!Transparent gas spewed down from the ceiling. Mok Geonho flailed his arms and grimaced.– What the hell is this!– …Sterilization.Ji answered.Bang!The Deater, which had seemed to be backing off, slammed forward again. Sawon handed his sword to Mok Geonho and grabbed the horn with both hands.Slide!In that instant, the glass sliding door they were leaning against opened. Ji, who’d expected the door to open, only staggered a little before regaining his balance. Mok Geonho, who’d been leaning his full weight on the glass wall, lurched badly but quickly righted himself. In that brief gap, Sawon managed to snap the Deater’s horn off barehanded. The long horn broke, and the creature shrieked and recoiled. The records room door shut completely.– Ha… what a filthy pain just to get in here.Mok Geonho let out a sigh, hands on his lower back.– Drama queen.Sawon took his sword back as he said it. Ignoring the two of them, Ji headed straight for the center of the room. Watching the direction he was walking, Mok Geonho let out a low whistle.– Wow… what is that…The records room looked more like a lab than a library. The wide interior was packed wall-to-wall with monitors facing inward like an air-traffic control center, and banks of various buttons. You couldn’t even see the walls. In place of walls, small test tubes were crammed all the way up to the ceiling. Each glass vial held a shard that looked like a circuit chip. Blue light pulsed intermittently along the etched lines.– They’re Metena record units.Ji answered and stopped in the center. There, a glass tube as big around as a full-grown tree trunk rose up. It spanned floor to ceiling, and inside the glass, countless Metena record units floated. They looked a bit like asteroids drifting through space. Ji placed his hand on the device set in front of the record units.[Recognizing user information.]When his white palm touched the surface, light flared at the point of contact. But it faded quickly. Near the entrance, Sawon paced and twirled his sword.– That’s it already?– No.Ji lifted his hand, then set it back down. The result was the same. After standing frozen for a moment, he moved around, checking several monitors and devices. But those too only flashed briefly. Ji turned back to the two hunters.– Not enough power.– What do you mean, not enough power. They’ve got to have emergency generators.– The power these records consume is massive. Looks like all power is being focused on maintaining them.Ji gestured around at the test tubes. A single Metena record unit consumed as much electricity as an entire building just to stay active. And there were thousands, tens of thousands of them in this room. In a blackout that had lasted several days, the emergency grid was keeping only the most critical facilities running for efficiency. Proof of that, the Metena record units were the only things that hadn’t gone dark. Sawon looked around and folded his arms.– Can’t we just boost the power to this room for a bit?But when he saw Ji’s expression, he nodded in understanding.– So that’s a no.– We’d have to go all the way to the control room, and that would complicate things. There is one other way, though.Sawon arched a brow.– What is it?– Using Metena instead of power. It’s a bit complicated, but I did it once in a previous project.– Move. I’ll do it then.But Ji stopped him.– It’s not that simple. You have to understand exactly how the device works.Sawon frowned, displeased.– So you’re saying you’ll do it?Ji took his reaction to mean he didn’t trust him.– I can. I’ve done it a few times. But it’s not very efficient, so I have to amplify Metena to the maximum and…– Amplify it? Your Metena, Chief?Sawon asked after a brief, heavy silence.– Any other options?– This is the best one.– Then let’s hurry it up.Mok Geonho, oblivious to the severity of it, urged them on. Sawon rested his sword on his shoulder. Even knowing they only had one solution, something still nagged at him.– Are you sure it’s really okay to use that method?Ji jerked his chin at his forearm—the spot where the Amplifier should have been. But even if they boosted his Metena, it would strain him badly. Sawon thought back once more to when he’d first met Ji Hayeon.This doesn’t feel right…But at the sight of his worried eyes, Ji only glared back, sharp and hostile. The look said don’t interfere. He carefully pried Nine off his chest where the creature was still clinging.– Take him.Kkii, kki. Nine let out a terrified squeak and grabbed a fistful of Ji’s shirt. At this point, it looked less like he was obeying Sawon’s orders and more like a baby animal treating Ji as its mother. Sawon put a hand to his own hip.– I told you he’s my totem. Stop trying to shove him away all the time and just take care of him. If you send him back to me, you never know when I might need to use him. You know what happens everywhere we go.At that, Ji bit down hard on his lip. He knew very well what kinds of disasters followed whenever Sawon used Nine.Just then, a heavy impact sounded and the entry door buckled. The dented shape matched that of a massive four-legged beast.Bang!At this point, there wasn’t any other solution. They’d handle the Deaters, and the data would be left to Ji.Sawon glanced over at Mok Geonho.– Mok Geonho. Let’s get ready too.As Mok Geonho pulled his whip taut, Ji said sharply:– Do not break anything in here.– Yeees, Chief.Sawon replied in a flat tone and stepped closer to the door. Ji took his place in front of the central control panel. Mok Geonho settled into a combat stance and said,– I’ll start the countdown.As Ji set his palm on the device, blue light rose.– Three seconds to charge.[Beginning user recognition.]Pressure flooded into Ji’s hand. Tendons and veins stood out on his palm, the back of his hand, and his forearm pressed against the device. The force riding up his arm hit the Amplifier’s spot on his forearm, and a powerful wave pulsed out from Ji as its center. The heavy vibration made the entire lab tremble faintly. That first rumble was followed by blue light erupting from his palm like an explosion.– Two seconds to charge.With the snap and crackle of electricity, blue light flickered across monitors everywhere. Another deep vibration rolled through, and like power being restored after an outage, all the surrounding screens lit up. The central glass tube was wrapped in blue light. Veins bulged along Ji’s neck. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.Thud! Thud!As the steel door shook, an alert sounded from the glass tube side.[User recognition completed.]– One second to charge.Thud! Thud!The joints of the door’s frame began to crumple like paper. From the gap came the Deater’s shriek.Screeee-eeeee![Resetting access permissions.]Ji began carrying out his task. Feeling the unstable waves behind him, Sawon took his fighting stance. He wasn’t worried about whatever was happening at his back. Unlike the things barreling down on him from the front, that wasn’t where his concern lay.– Charge!Bang!The door blew open, and sirens wailed through the records room. In a dry voice, Sawon said,– Let’s go.

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